Recipe: Dehydrated Mexican Lentil Stew (My Fav!)

Hands down, my favourite meal to dehydrate and eat out in the backcountry. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because it weighs practically nothing, but it’s full of protein-rich red lentils. Maybe because it has the word Mexican in it (Mexican flavours are my favourite). In any case, you have to try this!

I found the recipe on Budget Bytes.com, decided to make it a million times and then dehydrated it to bring it camping with me. It’s that good.

Serves 6 (using 3 ladlefuls per person)

Ingredients

1 tbsp of olive oil

large onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced

4 celery stocks, diced

2 cups dried red lentils, rinsed

28 oz. canned tomatoes (diced, whole and/or fire-roasted)

1/2 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp turmeric

4 cups vegetable broth

up to 10 dashes of hot sauce

1 medium lime

chopped cilantro

These ingredients, plus cumin and chill powder

Directions

Saute onions in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook for a minute or two, then add celery. Cook about 5 minutes until celery starts to soften.

Add spices, cook for another minute. Then add canned tomatoes and stock.

Rinse red lentils really well (until the water runs clear) and add those to the pot. Bring to a boil.

Turn to low-medium and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add lime juice and cool.

One the stew has cooled add chopped cilantro (this will help keep it more fresh during the dehydrating process).

Bringin’ it to a boil

In the Dehydrator

Spread a thin layer on a paraflex sheet in your dehydrator. Set temperature to about 135°F. Could take up to 12 hours. Once it’s all dried and crumbly it’s done.

Spread evenly on paraflex sheetDried and crumbly? It’s done!

At Camp

Add water so that it’s just covering the mixture. Bring to a boil and keep adding water when necessary until it doesn’t taste so concentrated and has the right consistency. It shouldn’t take very long at all. If you want, you can top it with corn chips, or cornbread.

Mexican Lentil Stew, my favourite!

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you get a chance to make this recipe. If you do, let me know how it turned out!